Bluebird reborn: Legendary speedboat that killed tragic Donald Campbell is rebuilt from wreckage | Daily Mail Online Bluebird reborn: Legendary speedboat that killed tragic Donald Campbell is rebuilt from wreckage comments The legendary record breaking Bluebird superboat in which speed-king Donald Campbell died after crashing at 328mph is to live again - 45 years after the tragic accident that sealed both their fates. The wreck of the jet-powered Bluebird K7, which sank to the bottom of Lake Coniston in January 1967 before being found and raised by divers in 2001, is now being re-assembled piece by piece. The aim is to put the phoenix-like reconstructed craft back on the water in a year's time - and run it at speeds of up to 100mph. State-of-the-art: The Bluebird K7 is reconstructed by a team of experts. This still image is taken from a sequence using 3-D graphics to recreate Donald Campbell's tragic final journey Grainy black and white film footage of the crash involving one of the UK's most famous speed-record champions has become an iconic image of a bygone age of British derring do and pluck, tinged with tragedy.

Now the remarkable story of the Bluebird's phoenix-like rebirth is chronicled in a new television documentary called 'Bluebird: The Spirit Reborn' to be broadcast on Christmas Eve (Friday 24th December at 19.30 on Sky News and Sky News HD). A team from Sky News has not only followed the Bluebird project for an exclusive behind the scenes look at the re-build, it has also used hi-tech 3-D computer graphics to recreate second-by-second the crash and help pinpoint exactly what went wrong in the fatal record attempt run. Iconic: This image of Donald Campbell's Bluebird hydroplane was taken on Coniston Water, Cumbria, on the day it flipped over and crashed as he tried to break his own world water speed record Backed by the pilot's daughter, Gina Campbell, a small team of diving enthusiasts and volunteer engineers based in a workshop in North Shields on Tyneside is putting the original Bluebird back together using 90 per cent of the original parts and fabric - even removing and then replacing thousands of individual rivets. The team also have a pilot to take the finished boat back onto the water at Coniston for its 100mph run.

Campbell smashed the world water speed record seven times in Bluebird K7 which was built in 1954. But in his final attempt when he pushed the by now ageing craft - designed to do no more than 250mph - beyond its endurance to 328mph. It lifted out of the water like an aeroplane, flipped over, and smashed into the water at 183mph, throwing 50 tons of spray into the air before it sank 40 metres underwater to remain there for 34 years. The Sky News documentary notes of the reconstructed graphic of the accident: 'For the first time we can see what happened to Donald Campbell and his boat. 'On that morning in January 1967, Donald Campbell set out to make the two runs necessary to establish a new water speed record. 'According to new analysis of this footage of the first run, alarm bells should have been ringing at this point. The film clearly shows Bluebird’s front end lifting briefly out of the water after he’d hit 310 miles an hour.

Minutes later, Campbell would ask even more of her but his luck was about to run out.' Crash: This graphic shows the moment Bluebird flipped as Donald Campbell reached speeds of over 300mph Shattered: Bluebird disintegrated into hundreds of pieces as it crashed into the water It adds: 'Campbell broke with protocol now and began his second run without getting the all clear from his course marshal. The ageing Bluebird had been originally designed for no more than 250 miles an hour, Campbell would push her to a destabilising 328mph on water still choppy from his first run. 'Exactly ten seconds before the final impact, she began a series of increasingly violent bounces. Campbell was in real trouble. On the third bounce the jet engine cut out, without its thrust it was impossible to keep Bluebird’s nose down. We now know that the boat came down on her side, hitting the surface at 183 miles an hour. Water punched through the cockpit, tearing it apart.' The boat somersaulted spectacularly before sinking to the bottom of the lake.

Campbell's daughter Gina is enthused by the project to rebuild her father's craft: 'I'm envisaging an enormous public response to coming to hear it and to see it. I think it will send the shivers up a lot of people's spines, I can almost feel it now, in fact I am tingling. It will be a thrill to see and to hear and to smell. 'She was a beautiful, beautiful piece of machinery.' Resurrection: The remains of Sir Donald Campbell's Bluebird are brought to the surface of Coniston Water in the Lake District March 8, 2001 She said her father was inspirational: 'I was 17 when my dad died, I had wonderful years with him. I still feel him around me in various things I do.' Bluebird project leader Bill Smith says he too gets 'goose-bumps' recollecting his part in the team which in 2001 found and raised the wreckage of the legendary but ill-fated craft: 'It was just as though somebody, in the pitch dark at the bottom of the lake with my nerves strung like wire, grabbed me by the foot. What a fright!

Your blood runs cold.' He then spotted 'a crumpled mass of tin with blue paint' and then the Union Jack on the tail-fin and realised he'd finally found Bluebird. Three months later the team recovered the body of Donald Campbell who is buried in Coniston cemetery. Tragic: Donald Campbell's wife Tonia Bern leans on the fairing to talk with her husband in the narrow cockpit of the Bluebird car, which was shown to the public for the first time in Goodwood, Sussex Rebuild: Bluebird project leader Bill Smith says he too gets 'goose-bumps' recollecting his part in the team which in 2001 found and raised the wreckage of the legendary but ill-fated craft Engineer Mr Smith of bluebirdproject.com which is backed by voluntary donations said: 'No one in their right mind would repair such a thing'. He notes: 'It was almost lost.

All you had were the pictures and a little bit of black and white footage of the crash and what we want to give back is something that has been built to the absolutely highest possible standard.' Although they had the drawings from 1954, they swiftly realised Campbell made modifications on the hoof which required detective work:' 'A good example would be that down in the foot well is a little guard alongside of the throttle pedal, presumably to keep his trousers out of the workings. That was never drawn but we found it in the wreckage and put it back.' Donald Campbell died trying to live up to the achievements of his speed record breaking father, Sir Malcolm Campbell, and Bluebird shares its name with the series of high speed aerodynamic cars in which both Campbell's smashed records. Bluebird historian and author Neil Sheppard believes that Donald Campbell had become 'trapped' in his obsession to reach 300 miles an hour:'I think he was under enormous pressure.

'But a speed of 328 miles an hour is the very edge of the envelope of that boat and at that speed a set of circumstances set itself in motion from which he couldn’t escape.' Robbie Robinson, who was part of Campbell's original support team and first on the scene when Bluebird crashed tells the Sky documentary team: 'When they finally pulled it out and you could see the devastation at the front end of the boat and how it had been just ripped apart. That was quite disturbing.' But he said: 'It’s the reincarnation of Bluebird. What it really means is it will be this permanent memorial to the man, Donald Campbell, that I knew and respected so much, to rise again like the phoenix.' :: 'Bluebird: The Spirit Reborn' to be broadcast on Christmas Eve,Friday 24th December at 19.30 on Sky News and Sky News HD. Repeated Wednesday 29th and Friday 31st December at 19.30.

:: See the boat's reconstruction: bluebirdproject.com BBC ON THIS DAY | 4 | 1967: Campbell killed during record attempt About This Site | Text Only 1967: Campbell killed during record attempt Donald Campbell has been killed a split second before breaking his own water speed record in his jet-powered boat, the Bluebird K7. He was travelling at more than 300mph (483 km/h) on Coniston Water when the boat was catapulted 50ft (15m) into the air after its nose lifted. Forty-six-year-old Mr Campbell was killed instantly as the boat hit the water and immediately disintegrated. Donald was going into the unknown and he was well aware of the risks Norman Buckley He was just 200 yards (183m) from the end of the second leg of his attempt when the accident happened. On the first leg he had reached speeds of 297mph (478km/h), which meant he had to top 308mph (496km/h) on the return journey. Initial reports suggest he had actually reached speeds of up to 320mph (515km/h).

This means the water speed record of 276.33mph (444.61km/h), which Campbell himself set in Australia in 1964, remains unbroken as both legs of the attempt were not completed. Had he broken this barrier it would have been his eighth world water speed record. Divers have attempted to recover Mr Campbell's body which is submerged in more than 120ft (37m) of water, but as yet have been unable to locate him. Norman Buckley, chief observer for the attempt and holder of five water speed records, said: "Donald wanted to put the record so high that it would be unassailable by any foreign competitor. "I think conditions were as perfect as I have seen them on Coniston, but Donald was going into the unknown and he was well aware of the risks." Mr Campbell's wife, Tonia Bern, flew to Coniston from London late this evening. Gina CampbellBluebird K7 Donald Campbell crash on Coniston Water Contact Bluebird K7 Bluebird K7 was a turbo jet-engined hydroplane in which Donald Campbell set seven world water speed records during the 1950s and 1960s.

Tragically, Donald Campbell lost his life in K7 on January 4, 1967 whilst making a bid to raise the speed record to over 300 miles per hour (480 km/h) on Coniston Water in the English Lake District. Design K7 was born from necessity. Donald had been using his father Sir Malcolm Campbell’s propellor-driven hydroplane Bluebird K4 for his record breaking attempts, but in 1951 it was destroyed by structural failure, when its gearbox sheared its mountings, and punched through the floor of the hull. Following rival racer John Cobb’s death in Crusader in 1952, Donald began development of his own all metal jet-powered Bluebird K7 to challenge the record held by the American hydroplane Slo-Mo-Shun IV. Designed by Ken and Lew Norris, the K7 was a steel-construction, three-point hydroplane with a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl axial-flow turbojet engine, producing 3500 pound-force (16 kN) of thrust.

Like Slo-Mo-Shun, but unlike Cobb’s tricycle Crusader, the three points were arranged in “pickle-fork” layout, prompting Bluebird’s early comparison to a blue lobster. Highly complex in design, it remained the only successful jet-boat until well into the 1960s. The name “K7″ was derived from its Lloyd’s unlimited rating registration. It was carried on a prominent circular badge on its sponsons, underneath an infinity symbol. Bluebird K7 Records Donald Campbell set seven world water speed records in K7 between 1955 and 1964. The first of these occurred at Ullswater on 23 July 1955, where he set a record of 202.15 mph (324 km/h). He achieved subsequent speed-record increases with the boat during the rest of the decade, beginning with a mark of 216 mph (348 km/h) in 1955 on Lake Mead.

Subsequently, four new marks were registered on Coniston Water, where Campbell and Bluebird became an annual fixture in the later half of the fifties, attracting sponsorship from the Mobil oil company and then from BP. There was also an unsuccessful attempt in 1957 at Canandaigua in New York state in the summer of 1957, which failed due to lack of suitable water conditions. Bluebird K7 was much photographed; as well as her annual Coniston appearances, she was displayed extensively in the UK, USA, Canada and Europe, and then subsequently in Australia during Campbell’s prolonged attempt on the land speed record (LSR) in 1963 – 64. In order to extract more speed, and endow the boat with greater stability, in both pitch and yaw, K7 was modified in the second half of the 1950s with the installation of smoother streamlining, a blown cockpit canopy and, from 1958 onwards, a small wedge shaped tail fin, modified sponson fairings, that reduced aerodynamic lift, and a fixed hydrodynamic fin, fixed to the transom to aid hydrodynamic stability, and exert a marginal downforce on the nose.

Thus she reached 225 mph (362 km/h) in 1956, where an unprecedented peak speed of 286.78 mph (461.53 km/h) was achieved on one run, 239 mph (385 km/h) in 1957, 248 mph (399 km/h) in 1958 and 260 mph (420 km/h) in 1959. Donald Campbell then turned to the LSR, and after surviving a high speed crash in his Bluebird CN7 turbine powered car, he spent a frustrating two years in the Australian desert, battling adverse conditions.

Finally, after he exceeded the LSR on Lake Eyre in 1964, at 403.10 mph (648.73 km/h) in Bluebird CN7, Donald snared his seventh water speed record on 31 December 1964 at Dumbleyung Lake, Western Australia, when he reached 276.33 mph (444.71 km/h), with two runs at 283.3 mph (455.9 km/h) and 269.3 mph (433.4 km/h) completed with only hours to spare on New Years Eve 1964. This made Donald Campbell and K7 the world’s most prolific breakers of the Water Speed Record. It was his finest achievement and Donald became the only person to break both the Land Speed Record and the Water Speed Record in the same year, a feat that is unlikely to be ever equalled. Fatal Water Speed Record attempt In June 1966, Campbell decided to once more try for a water speed record with K7: his target, 300 mph (480 km/h).

K7 was fitted with a lighter and more powerful Bristol Siddeley Orpheus engine, taken from a Folland Gnat jet aircraft, and lent to the project by the MOD, which developed 4,500 pound-force (20 kN) of thrust. The new K7 had a vertical stabiliser (also from a Gnat which Donald Campbell had purchased ) and a new hydraulic water brake designed to slow the boat down on the five-mile Coniston course. The boat returned to Coniston for trials in November 1966. These did not go well; the weather was appalling and K7 destroyed her engine when the air intakes collapsed under the demands of the more powerful engine, and debris was drawn into the compressor blades. The engine was replaced, Campbell using the unit from the scrapped, crash-damaged Gnat aircraft that he had purchased at the project’s start.The original engine remained outside the team’s lakeside workshop for the rest of the project, shrouded in a tarpaulin. By the end of November, after further modifications to alter K7′s weight distribution, some high-speed runs were made, but these were timed at well below the existing record.

Problems with the fuel system meant that the engine could not develop maximum power. By the middle of December, Campbell had made a number of timed attempts, but the highest speed achieved was 264 mph, and therefore still shy of the existing record. Eventually, further modifications to K7′s fuel system (involving the fitting of a booster pump) fixed the fuel-starvation problem. It was now the end of December and Campbell was all set to proceed, pending only the arrival of suitable weather conditions. On 4 January 1967, Campbell mounted his record attempt. He was killed when K7 flipped over and broke up at a speed in excess of 300 mph (480 km/h).Bluebird had completed a perfect north-south run at an average of 297.6 mph (478.9 km/h), and Campbell used a new water brake to slow K7 from her peak speed of 315 mph (507 km/h). The second run was even faster; as K7 passed the start of the measured kilometre, she was travelling at over 320 mph (510 km/h).

However her stability had begun to break down as she travelled at a speed she had never achieved before, and the front of the boat started to bounce out of the water on the starboard side. 150 yards from the end of the measured mile, K7 lifted from the surface and, after about 1.5 seconds, gradually lifted from the water at an ever increasing angle, before she took off at a 90-degree angle to the water’s surface. She somersaulted and plunged back into the lake, nose first. TV cameras on the banks captured the boat cartwheeling across the water before coming to rest. The impact rent K7 beyond the air intakes (where Donald was sitting) and the main hull sank. Donald Campbell was killed instantly. Mr Whoppit, his teddy mascot, floated to the surface amongst the debris, as did his pilot’s helmet. Royal Navy divers quickly made every effort to find and recover his body but, although the wreck of K7 was found, they called off the search after two weeks. It would be many years before Donald’s body was finally found.

Recovery of Bluebird K7 Some 35 years later, the wreckage of Campbell’s craft was recovered by the Bluebird Project led by Bill Smith. Between October 2000 and May 2001, sections of the boat were raised. The largest section, some two-thirds of the main hull, was eventually salvaged on 8 March 2001. Future of the restored K7 K7 is now being painstakingly restored by Bill Smith and his team in North Shields, Tyne and Wear. Bill is redeploying a very high proportion of her original materials and is installing a new engine of the same type (also incorporating many original components.) In May 2009, permission was given for a future day of “proving trials” of the restored Bluebird K7 on Coniston Water. This permission would enable K7 to be run at a safe speed for demonstration purposes only. The restoration of Bluebird may be completed in 2012/3 although no deadline has been set for finishing this extraordinary project.

K7 will find her permanent resting place at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston, where she will be on display to the general public in her own special wing of the museum, which was completed in October 2011. Images courtesy of Sky TV from their documentary ‘Bluebird: The Spirit Reborn.” Featured image “Across The Lake” – enamel on canvas by Arthur Benjamins. BLUEBIRD K7 JET HYDROPLANE WORLD WATER SPEED RECORD BOAT The K7 on Lake Coniston at high speed The Bluebird K7 was and is a turbo jet-engined three-point hydroplane with which the United Kingdom's Donald Campbell set seven world water speed records during the 1950s and 1960s. She was though more than that, she became and remains an icon for man versus the elements, the extraordinary and a symbol of finality, warning us to tread carefully. Campbell lost his life in K7 on January 4, 1967 whilst making a bid to raise the speed record to over 300 miles per hour (480 km/h) on Coniston Water . A tragedy, but also a finale that raises the bar.

K7 Design Donald Campbell began his record-breaking career in 1949. Hitherto, he had been using his father Sir Malcolm Campbell's propeller-driven hydroplane Bluebird K4 for his attempts, but in 1951 it was destroyed by structural failure, when its gearbox sheared its mountings, and punched through the floor of the hull. Following rival racer John Cobb's death in Crusader in 1952, Campbell began development of his own all metal jet-powered Bluebird K7 to challenge the record held by the American hydroplane Slo-Mo-Shun IV. Designed by Ken and Lewis Norris , the K7 was an aluminium , three-point hydroplane with a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl axial-flow turbojet engine, producing 3500 pound-force (16 kN) of thrust. Like Slo-Mo-Shun, but unlike Cobb's tricycle Crusader, the three points were arranged in "pickle-fork" layout, prompting Bluebird's early comparison to a blue lobster. It was very advanced, and remained the only successful jet-boat until well into the 1960s. The name "K7" was derived from its Lloyd's unlimited rating registration.

It was carried on a prominent circular badge on its sponsons, underneath an infinity symbol. The other vehicle that Donald Campbell was instrumental in creating, with the indispensable services of Ken and Lewis Norris: the CN7 jet powered LSR car. Bluebird K7 Records Campbell set seven world water speed records in K7 between 1955 and 1964. The first of these occurred at Ullswater on 23 July 1955, where he set a record of 202.15 mph (324 km/h). Campbell achieved a steady series of subsequent speed-record increases with the boat during the rest of the decade, beginning with a mark of 216 mph (348 km/h) in 1955 on Lake Mead. Subsequently, four new marks were registered on Coniston Water, where Campbell and Bluebird became an annual fixture in the later half of the fifties, enjoying significant sponsorship from the Mobil oil company and then subsequently BP. There was also an unsuccessful attempt in 1957 at Canandaigua in New York state in the summer of 1957, which failed due to lack of suitable water conditions.

Bluebird K7 became a popular attraction, and well as her annual Coniston appearances, K7 was displayed extensively in the UK, USA, Canada and Europe, and then subsequently in Australia during Campbell's prolonged attempt on the land speed record (LSR) in 1963 - 64, accompanied by his wife Tonia . In order to extract more speed, and endow the boat with greater stability, in both pitch and yaw, K7 was subtly modified in the second half of the 1950s with the installation of smoother streamlining, a blown cockpit canopy and, from 1958 onwards, a small wedge shaped tail fin, modified sponson fairings, that reduced aerodynamic lift, and a fixed hydrodynamic fin, fixed to the transom to aid hydrodynamic stability, and exert a marginal downforce on the nose.

Thus she reached 225 mph (362 km/h) in 1956, where an unprecedented peak speed of 286.78 mph (461.53 km/h) was achieved on one run, 239 mph (385 km/h) in 1957, 248 mph (399 km/h) in 1958 and 260 mph (420 km/h) in 1959. Campbell then turned to the LSR , and after surviving a high speed crash in his Bluebird CN7 turbine powered car, he spent a frustrating two years in the Australian desert, battling adverse conditions.

Finally, after Campbell exceeded the LSR on Lake Eyre in 1964, at 403.10 mph (648.73 km/h) in Bluebird CN7, Campbell snared his seventh water speed record on 31 December 1964 at Dumbleyung Lake, Western Australia, when he reached 276.33 mph (444.71 km/h), with two runs at 283.3 mph (455.9 km/h) and 269.3 mph (433.4 km/h) completed with only hours to spare on New Year's Eve 1964. This made Campbell and K7 the world's most prolific breakers of the Water Speed Record, inspiring K777 and others to produce similar boats and models . Campbell became the only person to break both the Land Speed Record and the Water Speed Record in the same year. Land transport is essential for small WSR boats. Here the K7 is being delivered to Goodwood on this small articulated truck. You can see from this picture where the name lobster came from.

The Final Water Speed Record attempt and Donald Campbell's death In June 1966, Campbell decided to once more try for a water speed record with K7: his target, 300 mph (480 km/h). K7 was fitted with a lighter and more powerful Bristol Siddeley Orpheus engine, taken from a Folland Gnat jet aircraft, and lent to the project by the MOD, which developed 4,500 pound-force (20 kN) of thrust. The new K7 had a vertical stabiliser (also from a Gnat Campbell had purchased ) and a new hydraulic water brake designed to slow the boat down on the five-mile Coniston course.The boat returned to Coniston for trials in November 1966. These did not go well; the weather was appalling and K7 destroyed her engine when the air intakes collapsed under the demands of the more powerful engine, and debris was drawn into the compressor blades. The engine was replaced, Campbell using the unit from the scrapped, crash-damaged Gnat aircraft that he had purchased at the project's start.

The original engine remained outside the team's lakeside workshop for the rest of the project, shrouded in a tarpaulin. By the end of November, after further modifications to alter K7's weight distribution, some high-speed runs were made, but these were timed at well below the existing record. Problems with the fuel system meant that the engine could not develop maximum power. By the middle of December, Campbell had made a number of timed attempts, but the highest speed achieved was 264 mph, and therefore still shy of the existing record. Eventually, further modifications to K7's fuel system (involving the fitting of a booster pump) fixed the fuel-starvation problem. It was now the end of December and Campbell was all set to proceed, pending only the arrival of suitable weather conditions. On 4 January 1967, Campbell mounted his record attempt. He was killed when K7 flipped over and broke up at a speed in excess of 300 mph (480 km/h).

Bluebird had completed a perfect north-south run at an average of 297.6 mph (478.9 km/h), and Campbell used a new water brake to slow K7 from her peak speed of 315 mph (507 km/h). Instead of refuelling and waiting for the wash of this run to subside, as had been pre-arranged, Campbell decided to make the return run immediately. Not the K7, this is the K777, a full size jet powered water speed record boat that could be run at Coniston and other venues - and who knows, given the right conditions, may even set a new WSR. If that was on the cards, we'd suggest a horizontal tailfin and wind and water tunnel testing. The second run was even faster; as K7 passed the start of the measured kilometre, she was traveling at over 320 mph (510 km/h). However her stability had begun to break down as she traveled at speed she had never achieved before, and the front of the boat started to bounce out of the water on the starboard side.

150 yards from the end of the measured mile, K7 lifted from the surface and after about 1.5 seconds, gradually lifted from the water at an ever increasing angle, before she took off at a 90-degree to the water surface. She somersaulted and plunged back into the lake, nose first. The boat then cartwheeled across the water before coming to rest. The impact broke K7 forward of the air intakes (where Donald was sitting) and the main hull sank shortly afterwards. Campbell had been killed instantly. Mr Whoppit, Campbell's teddy bear mascot, was found among the floating debris and the pilot's helmet was recovered. Royal Navy divers made efforts to find and recover the body but, although the wreck of K7 was found, they called off the search, after two weeks, without locating his body. Campbell's last words on his final run were, via radio intercom: ï¿½ Pitching a bit down here...Probably from my own wash...Straightening up now on track...Rather closer to Peel Island...Tramping like mad...and er... Full power...Tramping like hell here... I can't see much...

and the water's very bad indeed...I can't get over the top... I'm getting a lot of bloody row in here... I can't see anything... I've got the bows out... I'm going!....ugh ï¿½ The cause of the crash has been variously attributed to Campbell not waiting to refuel after doing a first run of 297.6 mph (478.9 km/h) and hence the boat being lighter; the wash caused by his first run and made much worse by the use of the water brake, (These factors have since been found to be not particularly important. The water brake was used well to the south of the measured distance, and only from approx. 200 mph (320 km/h) The area in the centre of the course, where Bluebird was traveling at peak speed on her return run was flat calm, and not disturbed by the wash from the first run, which had not had time to be reflected back on the course. The fuel tank was in approximately the same position as K7's centre of gravity, and therefore had little impact on the boats weight distribution), and potentially a cut-out of the jet engine caused by fuel starvation.

(The configuration of K7 at high speed meant that the thrust of the jet engine provided a downward pressure at the bows of the boat. K7 was operating at her absolute limit in terms of a nose up pitching angle of 6'. A sudden loss of power caused by an interruption to fuel flow would mean that this down-thrust was lost and K7's bows would have risen above the 6' safe limit) Some evidence for this last possibility may be seen in film recordings of the crash below - as the nose of the boat climbs and the jet exhaust points at the water surface no disturbance or spray can be seen at all. Recovery of Bluebird K7 The wreckage of Campbell's craft was recovered by the Bluebird Project between October 2000, when the first sections were raised, and May 2001, when Campbell's body was recovered. The largest section, representing approximately two-thirds of the main hull, had been salvaged on 8 March 2001. A diving team led by Bill Smith was responsible for finding the wreckage. Controversy over the recovery The exact date of the retrieval of Campbell's body from the lake was 28 May 2001.

He was interred in Coniston cemetery on 12 September that year. Campbell's sister Jean Wales had been against the recovery of the boat and her brother's body out of respect for his stated wish that, in the event of something going wrong: "Skipper and boat stay together." This quotation is usually said to have been uttered by Campbell when, in the final week of 1964, he was waiting for good weather to attempt a record run, but a bid seemed so unlikely at that point, his colleagues were pressing him to leave. He refused, and broke the record on the last day of 1964. Jean Wales did not attend his burial or visit his grave although she did remain in daily contact with the salvage crew as the boat's wreckage was being brought ashore. Forensic examination of the wreckage and the causes of the accident Because the boat's water brake was found to be extended when the wreck was recovered, it was generally assumed that Campbell had activated it to slow down before the boat had left the water on his final run.

On dismantling the boat, however, a hydraulic accumulator from the donor Gnat aircraft was discovered to be still connected to the system, meaning that stored hydraulic pressure may well have deployed the brake after the accident. The boat still contained fuel in the engine fuel lines and a quantity was collected and analysed using gas-chromatography as part of the official investigation of the accident commissioned by Barrow Coroner. However, insufficient was present to completely discount the fuel starvation theory. The engine could have cut-out as a result of intermittent fuel starvation caused by the untried fuel system or failure of the electrical supply to the low-pressure fuel-boost pumps. Full details of the boat's strip-down, and the conclusions drawn from it by the investigators, are lodged within the public domain in the diary pages of the Bluebird Project website. Restoration and future running As of 2008, K7 is being fully restored by The Bluebird Project, to full aerospace standards of working condition in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, using a very high proportion of her original fabric, but with a new engine of the same type albeit incorporating many original components.

As of May 2009 permission has been given for a one off set of proving trials of Bluebird on Coniston Water, where she will be tested to a safe speed for demonstration purposes only. There is no fixed date for completion/the trials. K7 will be housed in her own wing at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston, while remaining under the care of The Bluebird Project. Donald Campbell Killed in Water Speed Record Attempt - YouTube Donald Campbell Killed in Water Speed Record Attempt Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Oct 6, 2011 Donald Campbell Killed in Water Speed Record Attempt. Campbell was a British speed record breaker who is the only person to have set both world water and land speed records in the same year (1964). On 4th January 1967, Campbell was killed whilst attempting to set another water speed record in his 'Bluebird K7'.

He had already set seven water speed records between 1955 and 1964 with speed increases from 216mph to 276.33mph. The accident happened on Coniston Water, Lancashire, England. The Bluebird surpassed 320mph but as she did so she gradually lifted from the water before somersaulting out of control. Campbell was killed instantly. Watch more of Donald Campbell's Record Attempts, Successes and Crashes Here: WORLD WATER SPEED RECORDS APBA AND UIM The World Unlimited water speed record is the officially recognised fastest speed achieved by a water-borne vehicle. The current record of 511 km/h (317 mph) was achieved in 1978. From 1909 to 1927 the record was an unofficial listing from the organisers of powerboat races. In 1928 the record category was officially established. From 1930 the rules of the record stipulated that a craft must make two runs over a timed kilometre course in opposite directions, with the record being the average speed of the two runs. The record is currently ratified by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM).

With an approximate fatality rate of 50%, the record is one of the sporting world's most hazardous competitions. 1910s Beginning in 1908, Alexander Graham Bell and engineer Frederick W. "Casey" Baldwin began experimenting with powered watercraft. In 1919, with Baldwin piloting their HD-4 hydrofoil , a new world water speed record of 70.86 mph was set on Bras d'Or Lake in Nova Scotia. 1920s During the 1920s powerboat racing was dominated by American businessman and racer Gar Wood , whose Miss America boats were capable of speeds approaching 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph). Increased public interest generated by the speeds achieved by Wood and others led to an official speed record being ratified in 1928. The first person to try a record attempt was Gar Woodï¿½s brother George. On 4 September 1928 he drove Miss America VII to 149.40 km/h (92.83 mph) on the Detroit River.

The next year Gar Wood took the same boat up a waterway Indian Creek, Miami and reached 149.86 km/h (93.12 mph). 1930s Like the land speed record , the water record was destined to become a scrap for national honour between Britain and the USA. American success in setting records spurred Castrol Oil chairman Lord Wakefield to sponsor a project to bring the water record to Britain. Famed land speed record breaker and racing driver Sir Henry Segrave was hired to pilot a new boat called Miss England. Although the boat wasnï¿½t capable of beating Gar Woodï¿½s Miss America, the British team did gain experience that they put into an improved boat. Miss England II was powered by two Rolls-Royce aircraft engines and seemed capable of beating Woodï¿½s record. On July 13, 1930, Segrave drove Miss England II to a new record of 158.94 km/h (98.76 mph) average speed during two runs on Windermere, in Britainï¿½s Lake District. Having set the record, Segrave set off on a third run to try to improve the record further.

Unfortunately during the run, the boat struck an object in the water and capsized, with both Segrave and his co-driver receiving fatal injuries. Following Segraveï¿½s death, Miss England II was salvaged from the lake and repaired. Another racing driver, Kaye Don, was chosen as the new driver for 1931. However, during this time Gar Wood recaptured the record for the US at 164.41 km/h (102.16 mph). A month later on Lake Garda, Don fought back with 177.387 km/h (110.223 mph). In February 1932, Wood responded, nudging the mark up by 1.6 km/h (1 mph). In response to the continued American challenge, the British team built a new boat, Miss England III. The design was an evolution of the predecessor, with a squared-off stern and twin propellers being the main improvements.

Don took the new boat to Loch Lomond in Scotland , on July 18, 1932, improved the record first to 188.985 km/h (117.430 mph), and then to 192.816 km/h (119.810 mph) on a second run. Miss England II driven by Kaye Don Determined to have the last word over his great rival, Gar Wood built another new Miss America. Miss America X was 12 metres long, and was powered by four supercharged Packard aeroplane engines. On September 20, 1932, Wood drove his new monster-boat to 200.943 km/h (124.860 mph). It would prove to be the end of an era. Don declined to attempt any further records, and Miss England III became a museum piece. Wood also opted to scale-down his involvement in racing and returned to running his businesses. Somewhat ironically, both of the daredevil record-breakers would live to their 90s. Wood died in 1971, and Kaye Don in 1985.

Boat design changes Woodï¿½s last record would be one of the final records for a conventional, single-keel boat. In June 1937, Malcolm Campbell , the world-famous land speed record breaker, drove Bluebird K3 to a new record of 203.31 km/h (126.33 mph) at Lake Maggiore. Compared to the massive Miss America X, K3 was a much more compact craft. It was 5 metres shorter and had one engine to X's four. Despite his success, Campbell was unsatisfied by the relatively small increase in speed. He commissioned a new Bluebird to be built. K4 was a ï¿½three pointerï¿½ hydroplane. Unlike conventional powerboats, which have a single keel, with an indent, or ï¿½stepï¿½, cut from the bottom to reduce drag, a hydroplane has a concave base with two floats fitted to the front, and a third point at the rear of the hull. When the boat increases in speed, most of the hull lifts out of the water and runs on the three contact points.

The positive effect is a reduction in drag and an increase in power-to-weight ratio - the boat is lighter as it doesnï¿½t need many engines to push it along. The downside is that the three-pointer is much less stable than the single keel boat. If the hydroplaneï¿½s angle of attack is upset at speed, the craft can somersault into the air, or nose-dive into the water. John Cobb's Crusader jet powered WSR boat 1940s Campbellï¿½s new boat was a success. In 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, he took it to Coniston Water and increased his record by 18 km/h (11 mph), to 228.11 km/h (141.74 mph). The return of peace in 1945 brought with it a new form of power for the record breaker ï¿½ the jet engine . Campbell immediately renovated Bluebird K4 with a De Havilland Goblin jet engine. The result was a curious-looking craft, whose shoe-like profile led to it being nicknamed ï¿½The Coniston Slipperï¿½.

The experiment with jet-power was not a success and Campbell retired from record-attempts. He died in 1948. 1950s. Slo-Mo-Shun and Bluebird: Propriders to Turbojets Early in the morning of June 26, 1950, a small red boat skipped across Lake Washington, near Seattle, and improved on Campbellï¿½s record by 29 km/h (18 mph). The boat was called Slo-Mo-Shun-IV, and it was built by Seattle Chrysler dealer called Stanley Sayres. The piston-engined boat was able to run at 160 mph because its hull was designed to lift the top of the propellers out of water when running at high speed. This phenomenon, called ï¿½prop ridingï¿½, further reduced drag. In 1952, Sayres drove Slo-Mo-Shun to 287.25 km/h (178.49 mph) - a further 29 km/h (18 mph) increase.

The renewed American success persuaded Malcolm Campbellï¿½s son Donald , who had already driven Bluebird K4 to within sight of his fatherï¿½s record, to make a push for the record. However, the K4 was completely out-classed and Campbell could not run at the speeds of the Seattle-built boat. In 1951 K4 was written-off when it hit a submerged object on Coniston. Sir Malcolm Campbell and the Bluebird K4 (s) [Left] the original Rolls Royce Merlin engined superstructure, and [Right] the re-bodied jet engined "slipper." At this time, yet another land speed driver entered the fray. Englishman John Cobb , was hoping to beat 320 km/h (200 mph) in his jet-powered, all-aluminium built Crusader. A radical design, the Crusader reversed the ï¿½three-pointerï¿½ design, placing the floats at the rear of the hull. On September 29, 1952, Cobb tried for a 320 km/h (200 mph) record on Loch Ness.

Travelling at an estimated speed of 386 km/h (240 mph), Crusader's front plane collapsed and the craft instantly disintegrated. Cobb was rescued from the water but died of shock soon afterward. Two years later, on October 8, 1954, another man would die trying for the record. Italian textile magnates Mario Verga and Francesco Vitetta, responding to a prize offer of 5 million lire from the Italian Motorboat Federation to any Italian who break the world record, built a sleek piston-engined hydroplane to claim the record. Named Laura, after Vergaï¿½s daughter, the boat was fast but unstable. Traveling across Lake Iseo at close to 306 km/h (190 mph), Verga lost control of Laura, and was thrown out into the water when the boat somersaulted. Like Cobb, he died of shock. Following Cobbs death, Donald Campbell started working on a new Bluebird - K7, a jet powered hydroplane. Learning the many lessons from Cobbï¿½s ill-starred Crusader, K7 was designed as a classic 3 pointer with sponsons forward alongside the cockpit.

The 26ft long, 10ft wide, 5 ft high, 2.5 ton craft was designed by Ken and Lewis Norris in 1953-54 and was completed in early 1955. It was powered by a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl turbojet of 3500lbs thrust. K7 was of all metal construction and proved to have extremely high rigidity. Campbell and K7 set a new record of 325.60 km/h (202.32 mph) on Ullswater in July 1955. Campbell and K7 went on to break the record a further six times over the next nine years in the USA and England (Lake Coniston), finally increasing it to 444.71 km/h (276.33 mph) at Lake Dumbleyung in Western Australia in 1964. Donald Campbell thus became the most prolific water speed record breaker of all time. Donald Campbell in Bluebird K7 1967 Donald Campbell arrived back at Coniston Water, scene of previous triumphs, in November 1966.

Bluebird K7 had been re-engined with a Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus jet rated at 4500lbs thrust. His stated aim was to bump the record out of reach of the Americans, and push it beyond 300mph (480kph) The new attempt suffered many setbacks both mechanical, and weather related, and time by the end of 1966, Campbell existing 276mph record was still not broken. On the morning of January 4, 1967, he was a man under pressure, but the day dawned still, and conditions seemed perfect. Bluebird K7 was over a decade old, and an American called Lee Taylor was threatening the record with a new boat, Hustler. The patriotic Campbell desperately wanted a Briton to be the first to break 480 km/h (300 mph). His first run across the lake was untroubled and fast. K7 averaged 475.2 km/h (297.6 mph). A new record seemed in sight.

Campbell applied K7's water brake to slow the craft down from her peak speed of 315mph as she left the measured Kilo. The wake caused by the water brake was very large from traveling at such high speeds, so Campbell would normally refuel and wait, before starting the mandatory return leg, for the lake to settle again. This time, perhaps fearing that conditions would deteriorate if he waited, Campbell immediately turned around at the end of the lake and began his return run, to try and beat his own wash. Bluebird came back on her return even faster. At around 512 km/h (320 mph), just as she entered the measured Kilo, Bluebird met its wake from the first run. The boat began to lose stability, and finally, 100m before the end of the Kilo, its nose lifted at a 45 degree angle. The boat took off, somersaulted and then plunged nose-first into the lake, breaking up as she cart-wheeled across the surface. Campbell was killed instantly.

Prolonged searches over the next two weeks located the wreck, but it was not until May 2001 that Campbell's body was finally located and recovered. Campbell was laid to rest in the churchyard at Coniston on the 12 September 2001 Lee Taylor, a Californian boat racer, had first tried for the record in April 1964. His boat Hustler was similar in design to Bluebird K7, being a jet hydroplane. During a test run on Lake Havasu Taylor was unable to shut down the jet and crashed into the lakeside at over 100mph. Hustler was wrecked and Taylor was severely injured. He spent the following years recuperating, and rebuilding his boat. On June 30, 1967 on Lake Guntersville, Taylor and Hustler tried for the record, but the wake of some spectatorï¿½s boats disturbed the water, forcing Taylor to slow down his second run, and he came up 3.2 km/h (2 mph) short. He tried again later the same day and succeeded in setting a new record of 459 km/h (286.875 mph).

Bluebird K7 crash 4 January 1967 - Click picture for video 1970s to the present Until November 20, 1977, every official water speed record had been set by an American or Briton. That day Australian Ken Warby broke the Anglo - American domination when he piloted his Spirit of Australia to 464.5 km/h (290.313 mph) to beat Lee Taylorï¿½s record. Warby, who had built the craft in his back yard, used the publicity to find sponsorship to pay for improvements to the Spirit. On October 8, 1978 Warby travelled to Blowering Dam, Australia , and broke both the 480 km/h (300 mph) and 500 km/h barriers with an average speed of 510 km/h (318.75 mph). As of 2005, Warbyï¿½s record still stands, and there have only been two official attempts to break it. Lee Taylor tried to get the record back in 1980.

Inspired by the land speed record cars Blue Flame and Budweiser Rocket , Taylor built a rocket-powered boat, Discovery II. The 40-foot long craft was a reverse three-point design, similar to John Cobbï¿½s Crusader, albeit of much greater length. Originally Taylor tested the boat on Walker Lake in Nevada but his backers demanded a more accessible location, so Taylor switched to Lake Tahoe. An attempt was set for November 13, 1980, but when conditions on the lake proved unfavourable, Taylor decided against trying for the record. Not wanting to disappoint the assembled spectators and media, he decided to do a test run instead. At 432 km/h (270 mph) Discovery II hit a swell and one of the floats collapsed, sending the boat plunging into the water. Taylorï¿½s body and his destroyed craft were never recovered. In 1989, Craig Arfons, nephew of famed record breaker Art Arfons, tried for the record in his all- carbon-fibre Rain X Challenger, but died when the hydroplane somersaulted at 483 km/h (301.875 mph).

Despite the high fatality rate, the record is still coveted by boat enthusiasts and racers. Currently there are three major projects aiming for the record. The British Quicksilver [1] , The American Challenge project [2] , and spurred into action by the new challengers, Ken Warby has also built a new boat [3] . In 2001, Bluebird K7 was raised from Coniston Water by members of the Bluebird Project. The Future A British man is planning a new assault on the world water speed record. Nigel Macknight says that after an absence of 34 years, it is time the record was returned to Britain. He believes his boat Quicksilver can make him the fastest man on water, and plans are underway for an attempt on the record at Consiston Water, in the Lake District. "There is unfinished business on Coniston," he says, with quiet determination. Campbell legacy He is referring to Donald Campbell, the last Briton to hold the water speed record. He died on the lake in 1967, attempting to take his boat Bluebird through the 300 mph (480 km/h) barrier.

His body was recently recovered from the depths, and is now buried in a local churchyard. Nigel Macknight aims to succeed where Campbell failed. Construction of his boat is now well underway, with water trials scheduled for next summer, possibly in France or Switzerland. The attempt on the record is expected to follow at Coniston, during the winter months. Quicksilver is designed to reach 400 mph (640 km/h). But because the lake only provides a five-mile (8 km) run, it will be difficult to go beyond 325-330 mph (520-530 km/h). Nigel Macknight, initiator of the Quicksilver project, is the man who'll be at the controls of the multi-million pound supereboat for the record bid. Nigel has been guided by his mentor, Ken Norris, following the same path Ken mapped out for Richard Noble and Thrust 2, which took the land speed record in 1981. Originally from Corbridge in Northumberland, Nigel became a professional writer at the age of 21. His first article to appear in print was Speed Kings, an account of the record-breaking exploits of Sir Malcolm and Donald Campbell.

Dangers Nigel Macknight's challenge will cost ï¿½3m. It's a huge sum, but he has already raised half, through sponsorship with more than 30 companies. About 100 individuals have volunteered their support, among them members of the Thrust team who captured the world land speed record. Nigel does not back away from the obvious question: isn't this incredibly dangerous? Donald Campbell died when his boat took off and flipped over. Others have been killed chasing the same record. "The risks are on a par with motor sports and mountaineering," says Nigel, who is 46 and lives in Lincolnshire. "It is not entirely safe, but it is an acceptable risk." Simulations He points to the improvements in technology since Campbell's day, and cites motor racing as an example. "It has altered out of all recognition," he argues. "We like to think there has been a similar evolution in our project." Donald Campbell's boat Bluebird was never designed to travel at 300 mph. Quicksilver has been through an extensive period of development, including tests of models in a wind tunnel and a water tank, and inevitably in this day and age, computer simulations.

Borderline "The key is that we are making the risks more acceptable by applying modern technology to the age old problem of going quickly on water," says Nigel. "A speed of 300 mph is borderline. If we are to get to the next level we have to understand what happens at the interface between water and air. "If Campbell had modern technology it would have saved him. Sensors would have warned him that the boat was close to taking off." Nigel Macknight is determined to see his quest through to a successful conclusion. He clearly feels an emotional pull towards Coniston, and bringing the record home to the Lake District would be a tribute to the memory of Donald Campbell. But his determination is tempered by caution: "We will be pretty fired up, but we have to be calculating. The excitement is driving us on, but we have to keep an eye on the science. "We lost the record six months after Donald Campbell died, and we want to bring it back to Britain. "But it's not death or glory." Funding Seven Technical Partners are providing approximately ï¿½1million sponsorship in cash and kind. In addition, 26 Technical Associates are providing approximately ï¿½0.5 million sponsorship in cash and kind.

Over ï¿½350,000 cash has been injected by sponsors, supporters and shareholders to date Other elements manufactured, but not fitted to Quicksilver at the moment, include the cockpit instrument panel and the (pitot-type) airspeed measurement and indicator system (ASI) Later this year, more work will be done to complete Quicksilver's on-board systems, under the overall direction of Dr. John Challans. Then, the specification of the craft's hull and sponsons will be upgraded so that the first trials on water can begin. In this initial waterborne form, the craft will be known as Quicksilver Dash 1. LAKE DUMBLEYUNG AUSTRALIA DONALD CAMPBELL AND BLUEBIRD K7 JET BOAT Campbell has been trying to realise his record-breaking attempt for months at various locations in Australia . Each time he has been frustrated. The weather at his first choice of location, Lake Bonney in South Australia, proved too unpredictable. Then, he moved to Lake Dumbleyung, near Perth, on 16 December, only to be delayed by wild ducks which could not fly away because they were moulting.

The weather was the next setback, as persistent easterly winds raised waves up to 2ft (61cm) high, making any attempt impossible. With time running out for him to achieve his goal of breaking both speed records in the same year, he began considering a move to a third lake just south of Perth. The four timekeepers at Bluebird's (K7) record breaking run at Lake Dumbleyung were: Warren Mathews, Don Reimann -deceased, Don Noack, and Rod Style Sr. 'LET'S GO SKIPPER' Then suddenly, on the last possible day, the winds eased and the lake became flat calm. Conditions were rated 95% suitable, and the chief mechanic, Leo Villa, radioed to Mr Campbell, "I think it's worth a try - let's go, skipper!" Several hundred people gathered on the shores of the lake to watch, among them Mr Campbell's wife, Tonia Bern. When she heard that he had done it, she dived into the lake and swam out to embrace him as he brought Bluebird in. As he stepped ashore, Mr Campbell told his supporters, "It's amazing that we clinched it.

I never thought we had the chance of a snowball on the desert of cracking it today." Mr Campbell broke the land speed record in July on Lake Eyre salt flat in central Australia, with a speed of 403.1mph (648.72km/h). Bluebird K7 Lake Dumbleyung 1964 However, the record was short-lived: on 27 October an American, Art Arfon, drove his jet car across Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah at an average speed of 536.71mph (863.75km/h). Donald Campbell attempted to break his own speed record a little over two years later, on 4 January 1967 . A split second before his jet-powered boat, the Bluebird K7, broke the record, travelling at more than 300mph (483km/h) on Coniston Water , the boat's nose lifted and it was catapulted 50ft (15m) into the air. Mr Campbell was killed instantly as the boat hit the water and disintegrated. He was 46 years old.

His body was not recovered for another 34 years, until 2001. His remains were buried near Coniston Water. Donald Campbell is still the only person to break both land and water speed records in the same year. He remains the last British man to break the world water speed record. In 1978, it passed to Australia, when Ken Warby reached a speed of 317.6mph (511.1km/h). BLUEBIRD K7 The K7 was a very successful boat that set 7 World Water-Speed records between 1955 and 1964. The first record run was at Ullswater where Donald set a record of 202Mph. In the same year this was raised to 216mph at Lake Mead. There followed a sequence of record raising runs at Lake Coniston where he attained 248mph in 1958 and on each successful attempt Donald collected the ï¿½5,000 prize money offered to anyone who broke the record by Billy Butlin, of holiday camp fame. The prize money was a good way to finance the project and may explain so many incremental records.

Donald finally raised the water speed record to 276mph at Lake Dumbleyung, Australia in 1964, having earned a theoretical ï¿½35,000 prize money. DUMBLEYUNG Dumbleyung is a small wheatbelt town located 275 km south east of Perth. No one knows exactly how the town got its name but it is likely that it is a corruption of the local Aboriginal word 'dambeling' which probably meant 'large stretch of water'. An alternative theory argues that it may well be derived from 'dumbung' which either meant a native pear tree or an Aboriginal game played with bent sticks and a hard piece of fruit. The explorers Henry Landor and Henry Maxwell Lefroy are usually credited with the discovery of Dumbleyung Lake , although it appears to have been shown on a map in 1839 with the name Kondening Lake. Grazing leases around the lake were first granted to George Kersley in 1875. In recent times, the increased soil salination has made the area unsuitable for grazing. Today the lake is mainly used for aquatic recreation.

Despite the extreme salinity of the lake, it provides a habitat for many varieties of water birds, and since 1963 has been protected by the Dumbleyung Lake Nature Reserve. Although in many ways Dumbleyung is a typical wheatbelt town there is one event in its history which makes it uniquely important and separates it from the dozens of other towns in the area. Lake Dumbleyung full of water Dumbleyung Lake, also widely known as Lake Dumbleyung, is a salt lake in Western Australia. It is located at 33ï¿½ 20' S, 117ï¿½ 39' E, in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. At 13 kilometres long and 6.5 kilometres wide, it covers an area of 52 kmï¿½. On New Years Eve 1964, after a particularly wet winter had seen the lake fill to overflowing, Donald Campbell set the world water speed record when he raced his boat Bluebird across the lake at the remarkable speed of 444.66 km/h (276.3 mph). This made him the fastest man both on land and on water. A unique double.

A memorial to Donald Campbell's achievements is located on Pussy Cat Hill on the lake shoreline. Offering excellent views over the lake, it is clearly signposted 'Scenic Drive - Lake Dumbleyung' on the road from Wagin to Dumbleyung. Lake Dumbleyung, undoubtedly the area's great attraction, is the largest natural body of inland water in West Australia. It is approximately 13 km long by 6.5 km wide with a catchment area which extends approximately 64 km north towards Kulin, 64 km south towards Narrangerup and 55 km east to Tarin Rock. In the years when it overflows the water takes a course through the Wagin Lakes into the Beaufort River, thence the Blackwood and into the sea at Augusta. The first recorded sighting of the lake was in 1843 when two explorers Henry Landor and Henry Maxwell Lefroy travelled through the area looking for pastoral lands and a large body of water which had been mentioned by the local Aborigines. Landor and Lefroy described Lake Dumbleyung in their journal entry for 17 January 1843.

'After riding 10 miles, we came in sight of Dambeling, the largest of the lakes - 13 miles by 7 or 8. It is like the others, shallow with many low islands in varied and beautiful form. On the northern and eastern shores, there is a good grazing country down to the lake, ending in precipitous banks and extending over the hills 2 or 3 miles distant from the lake. The water is salt and the shore long, flat and muddy, on which we saw the impressions of two stray horses and a foal...' The first grazing leases around Lake Dumbleyung were granted in 1875 to George Kersley who overlanded sheep from Beverley and took up a lease of 20 000 acres which included half of the lake. Early accounts describe the lake as having grass covered banks and the saltbush provided valuable grazing for Kerseley's stock. The pastoralists were followed by the sandalwood cutters who came through the area searching for the aromatic timber. It was also common for farmers to cut the timber as it was a ready source of income during hard times or periods of inactivity.

Other early accounts describe a road across the lake used by Katanning settlers to cart produce to the goldfields in the 1890s. This was the opportunity for local farmers to make a fortune as quickly as the miners. They would load their wagons with flour, sugar, oatmeal, jam and baking flour and when they got to the goldfields actually auction their produce. While the lake is used for aquatic recreation today, in the early 1900s there were race tracks on it and it was used for picnics. During the 1920s and 1930s, although the lake did not fill to overflowing, there were years when it had enough water for swimming and boating. A record wet year in 1946 saw the lake fill completely. In recent times the lake has suffered greatly from the salination which has affected the whole of the wheatbelt. It now has a very distinctive saline smell. The shorelines, which the early settlers described as being so rich and fertile, are now characterised by forests of dead trees standing like forlorn skeletons. Most of the lake is part of a water bird conservation area.

In March 1985 a total of 24 839 birds were counted on the lake. The town of Dumbleyung seems to run a rather poor second to the lake but it is not without its charm. It came into existence just prior to World War I. The township was proclaimed in 1906 and the railway arrived a year later. From 1907-1912 Dumbleyung was the railway terminus which meant that it became an important meeting place. The Dumbleyung Hotel was built in 1913 and by 1915 Dumbleyung was the major rural service town in the region. Things to see - Lake Dumbleyung and Donald Campbell memorial On New Years Eve 1964, after a particularly wet winter had seen the lake fill to overflowing, Donald Campbell set the world water speed record when he raced his boat Bluebird across the lake at the remarkable speed of 444.66 km/h (276.3 mph). This made him the fastest man both on land and on water. A unique double. A memorial to Donald Campbell's achievements is located on Pussy Cat Hill on the lake shoreline.

Offering excellent views over the lake, it is clearly signposted 'Scenic Drive - Lake Dumbleyung' on the road from Wagin to Dumbleyung. Lake Dumbleyung, undoubtedly the area's great attraction, is the largest natural body of inland water in West Australia. It is approximately 13 km long by 6.5 km wide with a catchment area which extends approximately 64 km north towards Kulin, 64 km south towards Narrangerup and 55 km east to Tarin Rock. Heritage Trail and History An interesting journey through the region can be taken by following the Dumbleyung Historic Schools Trail Heritage Brochure. The brochure details four separate drives which include the sites of 26 schools and cover a total of 374 km There is an excellent book on the area titled A History of Dumbleyung written by Terry Klemm. It is available from the Shire of Dumbleyung office on the corner of Harvey and Dawson Streets.

NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM, BEAULIEU - 50th ANNIVERSARY BLUEBIRD CN7 A celebration Evening is to be held on Saturday 19th July 2014 at the National Motor Museum , Beaulieu . On 17 July 1964, despite mechanical problems and unpredictable weather, Donald Campbell and his team persevered to set a new British Land Speed Record of 403.10mph in Bluebird CN7, at Lake Eyre in Southern Australia. Fifty years on, this iconic vehicle is an integral element of a new display, For Britain & For The Hell Of It at the National Motor Museum, telling the story of British Land Speed Record achievement. What better way to mark the 50th anniversary than to spend an evening in the company of both the iconic Bluebird CN7, and Donald Campbellï¿½s widow, Tonia Bern-Campbell .

The evening will include a first public screening of the digitally re-mastered film ï¿½How Long a Mileï¿½ï¿½, on Donald Campbellï¿½s world record breaking year of 1964 when he took both the land and water speed records ï¿½ a unique double that has never been equalled. The screening will be followed by an exclusive dinner in the National Motor Museum and a talk by Tonia Bern-Campbell, recalling that magical time. There will also be an opportunity to explore the Museum including the new For Britain & For The Hell Of It display. This evening is a must for any Campbell or Bluebird enthusiast. Tickets for the evening are now available, to book your individual tickets or a table, contact Leithï¿½s at Beaulieu on 01590 614605 or email: corporate@beaulieu.co.uk For more information & ticket prices visit The blue bird legend continues.

The classic lines of this electric racing car were inspired by Reid Railton and his designs for the Napier Lion and Rolls Royce engined Blue Bird LSR cars in the 1930s, the Blueplanet BE3 features instant battery recharging using the patent Bluebirdï¿½ cartridge exchange system under license from BMS . This LSR is also solar assisted. She is designed for speeds in excess of 350mph using clean electricity. Imagine the spectacle of this beautiful vehicle speeding across the salt at Bonneville , or flying past on the sand at the Daytona or Pendine beaches. To hire this vehicle for your venue please contact BMS and ask for Leslie or Terry. The BE3 team need at least 3 months advance notice of events.

Question: What was the name of the boat in which English car and speedboat racer Donald Campbell was killed in 1967?
Answer: Bluebird K7